1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to casino gaming devices, and more particularly, to a system and method for facilitating and rewarding team play of such gaming devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recent proliferation of casino gambling institutions in non-traditional locations such as Native-American reservations, riverboats, and cruise ships has placed significant competitive pressure on casinos in more traditional locations such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City to attract and retain customers. Moreover, in most traditional gambling locales, there exist a substantial number of casinos which compete head-to-head for the same group of gamblers. For example, the Las Vegas strip alone has over thirty casinos in direct competition with one another. Thus, the competition to draw players into a particular casino and have them return again has become an extremely difficult task for casino owners.
Increasingly, casinos are offering incentives in an effort to attract customers and retain them over time. For example, progressive slot machines featuring relatively large progressive jackpots have been employed to entice players into casinos. However, these machines pay out infrequently and are becoming commonplace. Consequently, they are becoming less attractive to many players. Moreover, since progressive jackpots are found in most casinos, they do not encourage players to choose one casino over another.
Casinos have also formed player slot clubs as a method of attracting and retaining customers. Such slot clubs operate to enroll players and allow them to earn reward points for gambling activity. Reward points may be exchanged for lodging, food or other services offered at a casino. Often, however, a player may join several slot clubs and become associated with a number of casinos. Consequently, for some players, the incentive to visit a particular casino no longer exists, rendering the present casino slot club format ineffective for its intended purpose.
In looking for new ways to attract and retain customers, casinos have sought to improve the experience of slot machine play by implementing systems for creating a group play format, so as to attract greater numbers of customers into a casino. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,700 to Celona describes a system for splitting a progressive jackpot amongst multiple players of linked gaming machines when a player at one machine hits the progressive winning combination. By splitting the jackpot amongst the players, the system creates the semblance of group play, thereby enhancing the gambling experience for some players. However, aside from the fact that the players are linked by a group of machines, the group aspect of the game is quite passive, and does not increase a player""s loyalty to a particular casino.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,076 to Pease et al. describes a progressive gaming system in which multiple casinos or other groupings are coupled to a central system, and the central system provides each casino or group with a predetermined number of chances at a prize for each buy-in, i.e., each multiple of a predetermined amount of contribution to the prize or jackpot. If a prize is awarded as a result of such a buy-in, the casino or group randomly splits the prize amongst the players who are actively playing in that casino or group. Thus, it is possible for a player to win a progressive jackpot even though that player is not present in the casino in which the winning gaming device is located. However, since the Pease et al. system is configured to select a winner at random, the players are unable to influence the outcome of a game or the distribution of the award amongst the members of the group.
Pease et al. also discloses a system for tracking the activity of a group of players to facilitate the random distribution of a prize. Player tracking, as the name indicates, involves tracking individual player usage of gaming devices. In prior art player tracking systems, the player is issued a player identification card which has encoded thereon a player identification number that uniquely identifies the player. The individual gaming devices are fitted with a card reader, into which the player inserts a player-tracking card prior to playing the associated game.
By tracking individual players, usage can be monitored, allowing gaming establishments to target individual players with direct marketing techniques such as bonuses or rewards. U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,882 to Acres et al. describes a prior art player tracking system which facilitates communication between a network of gaming devices to provide a variety of promotional bonuses such as multiple jackpot bonuses, mystery jackpot bonuses, progressive jackpot bonuses, or player specific bonuses.
Consequently, despite recent attempts in the prior art to attract groups of players to casinos by creating a group playing environment, the systems presently in place do not enable the members of a group to influence or direct the distribution of a winning jackpot amongst the group members. Thus, the allure of such systems is relatively small.
The present invention is directed to a new and useful system and method for enhancing the experience of slot machine play by facilitating group play by members of a team associated with a casino slot club and by enabling the team to directly influence the distribution of a winning jackpot amongst its members. It would be desirable to both payers and casinos to provide a system for facilitating group play which enables the group members to influence or direct the distribution of a winning jackpot amongst the group. Such a system would serve to bring greater numbers of players into a casino and retain their loyalty to the casino over time, thereby increasing the casino""s profits.
In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the system for facilitating group play by a team of members associated with a casino slot club comprises a memory storage device and a processor. The memory storage device contains a player database including information relating to each team member, a teams database including information relating to each team, and a team plan database including information relating to a set of rules for allocating rewards to the members of the team when a payout is obtained by, or is due to, a particular team member.
The processor is adapted and configured to receive a player identifier corresponding to a team member and receive a signal indicating a payout to the team member. The processor is further adapted to retrieve information relating to the player from the player database, retrieve information from the teams database relating to the player""s team and retrieve information from the team plan database relating to the rules for rewarding the members of the player""s team. In addition, the processor is configured to evaluate the set of rules, and distribute a reward to each team member in accordance with the set of rules.
Generally, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for facilitating group play by a team of members which comprises the steps of identifying the members of the team, identifying a set rules for rewarding the members of the team when a payout is due to a game-playing team member, detecting a payout due to a game-playing team member, and rewarding the members of the team in accordance with the set of rules.
The step of identifying a set of rules for rewarding members of the team includes identifying a set of rules in a team plan database designated by the team. The rules or team plan can include, among other things, a minimum payout threshold, one or more player eligibility requirements, a bonus activity multiplier, and a condition for effecting reward multiplication, such as player activity.
These and other features of the system and method disclosed herein will become more readily apparent from the following description of the drawings.